Etiquette for Steam Ship Passengers

‘Do you remember my cousin who crossed with you in the spring of ‘95?’

 

WHAT NOT TO ASK THE CAPTAIN

“The annual rush of tourists back and forth over the Atlantic has begun,” said a liner’s captain, “and I am hardening myself to stand the usual ten tourist questions.

“There are ten questions that every tourist who can get near enough puts to me. You'll put them to me if you ever cross on my ship. I have been asked these ten questions 3,764,952 times. They are:

1. ‘Were you ever shipwrecked?’
2. ‘Any whales in this latitude?’
3. ‘How deep is the water here?’
4. ‘What tips are usually given, and to whom?’
5. ‘How many times have you crossed the Atlantic?’
6. ‘What is the best remedy for seasickness?’
7. ‘Why are you always painting this ship?’
8. ‘Will you let me come up on the bridge some time?’
9. ‘Do you remember my cousin who crossed with you in the spring of ‘95?’
10. ‘I suppose the passengers ask you a great many stupid questions, don't they?’”—Philadelphia Bulletin, 1910

🍽Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

Travel and a Toothpick Faux Pas

A trio of antique toothpicks– “Three 18th to 19th century toothpicks, including a late-Georgian or early Regency era toothpick, that retracts back into itself― A toothpick is something that should NEVER be seen at a beautifully set table, yet worldwide, toothpicks are more commonplace on dining tables than one might believe. Culturally, they are accepted in some areas as long as one covers his or her mouth while picking the teeth. But this only leads someone to imagine what’s going on behind that hand. We’re all for good dental hygiene, but please... not at the dining table.” And may we add, not in the jewelry shop?!? – Image and text from the book, What Have We Here?: The Etiquette and Essentials of Lives Once Lived, from the Georgian Era through the Gilded Age and Beyond... 
by Etiquipedia Site Editor, Maura J. Graber

A Visit to London and a Little Lesson In Etiquette

“I ran over for a short visit to London,” said a globe trotter. “On the boat was a pretty widow from Altona who disgusted and amused all hands one day by saying: ‘I am surprised that a fast and expensive boat like this should fail to supply us with toothpicks.’ “She thought toothpicks indispensable, like napkins or forks. For thinking so we set her down as a hecker. But wait…

“I dined during my visit in London at Prince’s, in Piccadilly, and at the Savoy, in the room that overlooks the embankment and the river, and at the Carlton, where I paid a dollar for a plate of soup, and at all these restaurants, which are admittedly the finest and the smartest and the most fashionable in the world. At all of them there were toothpicks on the table, each toothpick done up in a sterilized envelope.

“This taught me a lesson. It taught me that it is narrow and provincial to despise people for their disregard of certain small rules of etiquette. The things we despise them for, which may be glaring errors in Seattle or New York, may be again, as like as not, the correct thing in Paris and London.” –New York Press, 1906

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia